Volleyball Rolls Against William & Mary

Saturday, September 3

Nashville, Tenn.

12 PM

Mercer University

3-3

William & Mary

1-5

Mercer

William & Mary

9/3/2016 3:28:00 PM | Volleyball

Box Score

Bears record season-high 15 blocks

NASHVILLE – Mercer volleyball capped an impressive weekend at the Bruiser Showcase with a dominant 3-1 win (25-23, 20-25, 25-12, 25-22) against William & Mary on Saturday afternoon at the Curb Event Center. With the victory, the Bears went 2-1 at the invitational tournament.

HOW IT HAPPENED
Behind the attack of Morgan MacGilvary and Ellie James, the Bears set the tone early with a 25-23 win in the opening set. The duo recorded five and four kills, respectively, in the game to help Mercer work a 9-3 lead before quelling a late Tribe comeback. Paige Alsten was efficient with her attacks in the set too, connecting for four kills on six attacks and added three blocks.

The Tribe tied it up 1-1 behind a 25-20 second set as Mercer couldn't get the offense flowing as well as the first set. A .095 hitting percentage paired with seven attacking errors led to a tough set and saw William & Mary pull away with six of the final eight points to seal the set win.

Mercer's offense hit its stride in the third set and cruised to a 25-12 win behind a season-best .361 hitting percentage. MacGilvary and James were the focus on the attack once again, each connecting for five kills apiece on 11 and 10 attacks. Tori Penrod was all over the place, picking up 11 digs in the set to pace for the Bears defensively as four players contributed block assists including two by James and Gabbi Meyering.

Back-and-forth blows were exchanged in the fourth set before Mercer held on for a 25-22 match-clinching win. The Bears totaled five blocks in the set behind three individual blocks by Alsten. The sophomore added four kills to help close out the Tribe.

PLAYER OF THE MATCH
Among numerous stars for the Bears on Saturday, Paige Alsten submitted another superb performance with nine blocks and nine kills, which were complimented by a .500 hitting percentage on 16 total attacks. Alsten's ability to control the middle of the net led to William & Mary being limited to a .131 hitting percentage for the match.

NOTABLES

The Bears now own a 1-0 lead in the all-time series against William & Mary.
Mercer's 15 blocks are a season-high. Seven different Bears contributed blocks, including five by MacGilvary (ties a career-high) and four by Meyering (career-high).
Alsten's nine blocks are a season-high for the sophomore middle blocker. She finished two shy of tying her career-high of 11, set a season ago.
Penrod finished two digs shy of her career-high and finished with 31 against the Tribe on Saturday. The senior libero now has 126 for the season, averaging 5.25 per set.
In addition to 26 and 17 assists, respectively, Hannah Noon and Claire Waliczek punched in a pair of aces each.
MacGilvary totaled 15 kills to lead the way offensively. She continues to pace Mercer with 65 kills overall, 15 more than any other Bear.
James reached double-digit kills (12) for the first time this season. She finished second on the team in total attacks with 36.
Maria Avramova recorded her first kill of the season in the fourth set. The middle blocker added a solo block and assist block in the set.

COACH ELDER'S TAKE
"William & Mary forced us to serve tough and get our offense in sync the whole match," said head coach Damian Elder. "I'm happy to go 2-1 in this tournament and proud of how hard everyone on our team played. These three matches provided us with something to build upon and proved that we're really good at some things already this season."

RECORDS UPDATE
Mercer is back to .500 with a 3-3 overall record following the win over William & Mary on Saturday. The Bears continued William & Mary's now-five-game losing streak, dropping the Tribe to 1-5 overall.

UP NEXT
Two tournaments down, two more to go. The Bears will take on host North Florida, Florida International and Nicholls State at the UNF Invitational next weekend in Jacksonville, Florida. The three-match slate will begin with Mercer taking on UNF at 7 p.m. on Friday, Sept. 9.

FOLLOW THE BEARS
For complete coverage of Mercer Volleyball, please follow the Bears on social media at @MercerBearsVB (Twitter), and @mercervolleyball (Instagram) or visit the official home of Mercer Athletics at MercerBears.com.